Princeton regains Ivy crown

Three weeks ago, the women's swimming and diving team traveled to Cambridge, Mass., for the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet with high hopes, only to be crushed by a strong Crimson team for a second-place finish.

But we're not here to talk about the past.

Princeton returned to Cambridge last weekend to avenge its earlier loss and came away with its 16th Ivy League championship, routing Harvard and the rest of the Ancient Eight in the process.

The Tigers won a stunning four of the five relay events to go along with five individual wins, six second-place finishes and eight third-place finishes to easily outdistance Harvard 1,580-1,445, with third place Columbia scoring a distant 968.5.

Sophomore Ellen Gray led the charge for Princeton with two individual wins and one second-place finish. Freshman Justina DiFazio swam on all four winning relay teams while also posting an individual win and a second-place finish. Also tallying wins for the Tigers were sophomore Brett Shiflett and junior Kelly Hannigan, with one win each.

Princeton began the meet on a high note with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Sobenna George, DiFazio, senior Chrissy Macaulay and Hamming narrowly took first over Brown and Harvard, both of which swam faster preliminary times.

Shiflett and Gray followed by finishing first and third respectively in the 500 freestyle, while Harvard standout Noelle Bassi, the meet's Most Outstanding Swimmer, took second. Freshman Monika Friedman finished sixth for the Tigers.

The 200 individual medley saw a one-two finish for the Orange and Black, as Hannigan and Hamming edged out one of their Crimson rivals.

After a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle by Macaulay and a third-place effort by freshman Katie Giarra in the one-meter dive, an event in which five Tigers placed in the top 10, Princeton's 400 medley relay team stunned second place Harvard to close out day one. Hannigan, senior Sarah Schaffer, DiFazio and Hamming outdistanced the Harvard team by a mere two-tenths of a second for the win. At the end of the day, the Tigers held a 496-394 lead over the heavily-favored Crimson.

Princeton's relay teams began day two exactly how they finished day one. Hannigan, Schafer, DiFazio and Macaulay outreached another strong Harvard team by only 0.17 seconds to pad the Tigers' lead.

Gray followed with the first of her two wins in the 1000 freestyle, with senior teammate Eileen Altenburger finishing fourth. Once again, a Harvard swimmer came in second. Harvard's Bassi won the next event, the 400 individual medley, but Tigers Hannigan and Hamming finished second and third, respectively, to prevent Harvard from gaining ground in the team standings.

DiFazio and Shiflett finished first and second in the 200 freestyle with a Harvard swimmer coming in third. Schaffer and Hannigan followed with second-place finishes in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively.

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Just when Princeton needed a big win, its relay teams pulled through again. DiFazio, Hannigan, Shiflett and Hamming won the 800 freestyle relay by three seconds over a Bassi-anchored Harvard squad. At the end of day two, the Crimson had only narrowed the Tigers' lead by two points, and still trailed by 100 points with only seven of the 21 events remaining. Only a collapse by Princeton and a monumental comeback by Harvard could keep the Tigers from another Ivy League title.

Gray helped make sure there would be no such comeback with a win in the 1650 freestyle to begin the final session. The Tigers then placed three swimmers in the top six of the 200 backstroke, thwarting a Crimson comeback effort again.

A two-three finish by DiFazio and Shiflett in the 100 freestyle put even more distance between Princeton and Harvard, whose top finisher swam for sixth place. The Crimson threatened in the 200 breaststroke, placing four swimmers in top seven, but by that point it was too late for a comeback.

Bassi's win in the 200 butterfly was nullified by Princeton's depth, as Friedman, Altenburger and DiFazio touched in for third, fourth and fifth places. After junior Michelle DeMond led three Tigers in the top six for the three-meter dive, winning the Ivy League title remained only a formality for Princeton.

Winning the Ivy League title is always nice, but the 135-point victory over Harvard — who has won the last two HYP meets and was defending Ivy League champion — was especially sweet. While Princeton's strong performances from freshmen and sophomores bode very well for the next couple of years, this year's victory is a fitting send-off for the dedicated group of seniors leaving the team.